New Cycle: No Plans, Iraq & Haaretz

Woman Thinking - Jenö Barcsay

New cycle...
I should probably start by saying that our plan for 2014 is to not have a plan at all. This year, we are simply going with the flow. Wherever the river of life will lead us, that's where we'll go.

Will there be any forecast in 2014? Maybe; only this time they will come as we go - making it, thus, more interesting to make that summary of balance at the end of the year. The world right now is off balance. Storms are violent, the extreme cold weather is penetrating our bones; conflicts are getting more and more raging; politics is driving people mad; values are striving to make a comeback; absolute secularism is proving to be a failed system; and everything else seems chaotic. Notwithstanding, there is a quiet streak behind the chaos as if forewarning an alteration of the usual order of things. When this modification occurs, we will be here to address the events.

New cycle...
In the middle of my rest, during the weekend, I heard an expert (forgive me for not remembering his name exactly, but he is one of those who either live in London or teach at the LSE) saying that the violence prevailing in Iraq - ref: Sunni tribesmen helping the government to fight Al-Qaeda - is America's fault; because when Saddam Hussein was in power there was not one single terrorist attack in Iraq...w-o-w.

I really don't know whether to laugh or cry. First, blaming America for everything and nothing is old, people. Move on! Second, comparing Saddam's Iraq with today's Iraq is an extraordinary demagogy. Who are these people trying to kid?

New cycle...
Haaretz emailed me to inform that Peter Beinart has joined its ranks. First, Haaretz doesn't know how to get a hint: ever since one of its journalists decided it had the authority to confer the Palestinians the right and duty to throw rocks at Jews, I stopped reading that leftist trash (NB: I used to be an assiduous reader of Haaretz and leave comments there before it turned into a vehicle of sheer venom and resentment, unworthy of its name).
Second, as much as I appreciate Peter Beinart's debate technique; I am not interested in reading his continued Israel bashing while sitting comfortably in the US. I love our Jewish brothers as much as the next man, but give me a break...he's a fad.

Next week, we're back to work; so see you then.